Story From The Trenches

I probably shouldn’t tell this story. But I will, just won’t mention names. Also, I think it’s a pretty cool tale of how things really work (or in this case don’t).

A very large movie came to me two years ago. They were doing hair, makeup and films stock tests. I saw that there were major stars in it. With a (relatively new) female director from another country. I would gather 2/3 of the cast were foreign, but was funded by American money. A major Oscar winning star was behind the real connection to this movie. She was listed as the producer.

A few weeks went by, then heard a bizarre incident. On the actual day of the shoot, the director decided not to show up to set. No word from her. Nothing. Just decided to not show up. We’re talking about a roughly $30-40 million dollar budgeted movie. Yep, just didn’t show. To which my supervisor told me the tale and closed the books on them.

Two weeks later, they re-tooled and dailies began again. What just happened? Seriously. Months if not years of planning and things went down, then back up within the span of less than 14 days. Either someone had a time frame, money tied up, called in the Gods or whatever, but there I was, back threading their dailies through our machines. I heard trickles of rumors. And oddly enough, mostly from the internet about this production. The director’s departure was met by the cinematographer walking in support of whatever it was that troubled her about the project. Perhaps creative difference. Could be she was raggin’. Who fucking knows. But they both walked. In that gap of time, they replaced director and cinematographer. Although preparations were done by the original crew, where did they find the time for these guys to step in?

Oh, did I mention they also lost two of their stars in solidarity for the departure of the director? That meant (again, please keep up) after losing director, cinematographer, two actors (big names by the way) they replaced them all. AND, shuffled characters around. We’re not talking about a video project you do with your friends in the backyard. These were grown ups with grown up money. I wouldn’t even go as far as to say they’re dumb people. The producer chick was brilliant, judging by her past accomplishments. I’m not sure how they survive this, but the movie was wrapped, and two years later, a release has been announced. Will it be good? I have no idea. Watch it win all the awards.

My point being these things probably happen more often than we realize, in terms of getting a movie made. At whatever financial level, we are all still so headstrong in getting something done. From the outside looking in, this is nutjob behavior. I have no idea the politics behind the ebbs and flow of why they needed to make this movie. Let’s say they pulled the plug. Would anyone be the wiser? Would they be racked with would’ve/should’ve/could’ve. Who knows. But there is a certain level of stubbornness and determination that I honestly respect. Or it could be just to stick it to that bitch director that walked off the picture. High price to pay to prove a point.